ELECTION '96

Lone Poll Shows Clinton Lead Below 4 Points

Republicans took heart Sunday from a Reuters news service poll that showed President Clinton's lead over Bob Dole down to just under 4 percentage points.

That poll stood alone, however. Other surveys released Sunday continued to show Clinton with a stable double-digit lead. The Gallup CNN-USA Today poll showed Clinton ahead of Dole, 50% to 37%, with Ross Perot at 7%. Polls for the Pew Research Center and NBC News and for the Wall Street Journal were almost identical (49%-36%-8% for Pew/NBC and 47%-37%-9% for the Journal).

Those national polls were consistent with a newly released survey in Ohio. The Ohio Poll, conducted by the University of Cincinnati for the Cincinnati Enquirer, showed Clinton ahead of Dole 48% to 39%, with Perot at 9%.